Sino-NK

Sung-yoon Lee. The Sister: North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the most Dangerous Woman in the World. New York: PublicAffairs, 2023. 304 pp. ISBN 978-1541704121.

The Sister, authored by Sung-yoon Lee, a Korean-American scholar specialising in the Kim regime’s political culture, propaganda, and strategic behaviour, delves into Kim Yo-jong’s enigmatic rise to prominence in the DPRK. This is an academic work which traces Kim Jong-un’s youngest sibling within the DPRK’s complex power structures, and her unprecedented influence as a woman in a deeply patriarchal society. Lee studies in particular information warfare and coercive diplomacy, a background which underscores the author’s authoritative position to analyze Kim Yo-jong’s multifaceted role in North Korea, given the regime’s sophisticated use of media and public image for strategic objectives.

What sets this book apart is its remarkable accessibility: Unlike many other works on North Korea that often present their arguments in a rigid, chapter-by-chapter format, this book effortlessly draws the reader into its narrative. It maintains a compelling grasp, rendering the complex topic of North Korean politics understandable and engaging. This approachable style helps to deepen the reader’s comprehension of the intricate power dynamics and political mechanisms at play within the DPRK.

The book begins by dedicating approximately one-third of its content to the historical context of the Kim family, tracing their lineage back to the first-generation leader, Kim Il Sung. Lee examines the divided Korean Peninsula, contrasting US President Truman’s containment strategy during the Korean War with Kim Il Sung’s localized ambition for unification, illuminating the war’s origins and lasting impact. The narrative then shifts to the internal dynamics of the Kim family, drawing on accounts including that of Kim Jong-il’s personal chef Kenji Fujimoto, to reconstruct intimate family scenes, and to differentiate between the “core trunk” of the Kim bloodline and systematically marginalized “side branches”. This section explores Kim Jong-il’s consorts, particularly the mother of the protagonist Ko Yong-hui, whose death and reported assistance to South Korea exposed the regime’s carefully guarded secrets. By contrasting the adolescent preoccupations of sons Kim Jong-chol and Kim Jong-un, Lee foreshadows the distinct leadership style that would define North Korea’s current ruler. The book details Kim Jong-il’s ascent, his strategic use of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the WPK, and the deliberate groundwork laid for Kim Jong Un’s succession.

Kim Yo-jong only truly emerges as a central figure much later in the narrative. The preceding chapters largely focus on Kim Jong-il’s formative and apprenticeship years, detailing his interactions during visits from South Korean and US presidents. These episodes underscore his cautious diplomacy and the consolidation of dynastic authority, rather than highlighting his sister’s contributions. While Kim Yo-jong is momentarily present at Kim Jong-il’s funeral, her appearance is fleetingly acknowledged at the chapter’s beginning and end, seemingly to justify the book’s title by maintaining her peripheral presence. Her role appears more symbolic than substantive until her reappearance in Hungnam, where her voice is finally captured in her capacity as vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department in late 2014. This marks her first independent narrative presence, in which she actively shapes political messages instead of merely being depicted within them. This delayed introduction prompts questions regarding the framing choice by the author: why title the book The Sister when, for a significant portion, it functions more as a family chronicle, perhaps more aptly named The Kims and Their Daughter (with Kim Yo-jong’s story genuinely commencing only in its latter sections)?

A feature of The Sister is its pronounced subjectivity, which frequently blurs the distinction between objective observation and authorial interpretation. Lee often attributes political significance to gestures and expressions with multiple interpretations, thereby inviting skepticism regarding their reliability. For instance, the author interprets Kim Yo-jong’s handshake with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the PyeongChang Olympics 2018, specifically her upright posture and composed gaze, as definitive evidence that she perceived herself as the “main character” of the event. Similarly, her brief departure during her father’s funeral is framed as an intentional act of defiance against her brother, signaling a potential power challenge within the Kim family. However, these interpretations rely entirely on speculative inference rather than verifiable evidence, thereby revealing the author’s propensity to project motive and hierarchical dynamics on to ambiguous scenarios. Consequently, the narrative frequently leans more towards interpretation than rigorous analysis, leaving readers to question whether they are encountering documented insight or imaginative conjecture.

The book successfully chronicles Kim Yo-jong’s public appearances, detailing her progression from a peripheral figure to a prominent power broker in North Korea. Lee’s structured presentation of her trajectory through state events, diplomatic engagements, and orchestrated performances offers a cohesive understanding of her public image. However, the work’s academic rigour is undermined by its pervasive subjectivity, exemplified by remarks such as the author’s assertion that during Kim Yo-jong’s visit to the Blue House “she looked bored”. A more rigorous adherence to verifiable evidence, rather than speculative narration, would have significantly enhanced the account’s credibility and analytical depth.

At first glance, the publication of a full-length book on Kim Yo-jong appears ambitious, given the scarcity of verified information about the protagonist and the relatively brief duration of her public presence. Upon closer examination, however, this initial skepticism proves warranted: reliable primary sources concerning her life, political influence, and personal background remain extremely limited. Consequently, The Sister functions less as a revelatory biography than as a curated compilation of publicly available materials related to the Kim family, augmented by the author’s interpretive commentary on Kim Yo-jong’s few public appearances. While the work succeeds in synthesizing scattered information into a coherent narrative, its analytical depth is ultimately constrained by the paucity of evidence and the author’s dependence on subjective interpretation to fill empirical gaps.

In The Sister, Lee articulates a clear objective: to foreground Kim Yo Jong’s ascendance as both the regime’s principal propagandist and an influential power broker within the North Korean hierarchy, contending that her significance has been underestimated by external observers. The book endeavours to humanise North Korea’s apparatus of control by meticulously charting how the Kim family’s dynastic narratives, inherited ideological tenets, and entrenched institutional frameworks converge in her pivotal role as enforcer and image-maker for Kim Jong-un. Lee positions Kim Yo-jong as emblematic of a new generation, younger and more media-savvy, yet equally committed to perpetuating the regime’s repressive continuity. Consequently, his intent is twofold: analytical, in seeking to elucidate the logic of the Kim system for a general audience, and normative, by alerting general readership to the inherent dangers of dismissing North Korea’s provocations as mere theatrical displays rather than recognising them as calculated acts of statecraft.

Despite its reliance on secondary and publicly available sources, The Sister represents a valuable and timely addition to the growing body of literature on the Kim dynasty. Its comprehensive compilation of dispersed information, paired with a chronological portrayal of events, provides readers with a structured and accessible overview of how the family’s power and image continue to evolve. Although the book lacks new primary evidence and occasionally drifts into subjective interpretation, the concerted effort to document and contextualize Kim Yo-jong’s emergence nonetheless contributes meaningfully to understanding one of the world’s most secretive and enduring political families. Works of this kind, imperfect yet ambitious, serve an important role in piecing together the complex mosaic of the North Korean leadership.